An Iranian social media operation is instructing its audience how to use AI and create fake accounts on X where they pose as Israelis and post demoralizing messages in Hebrew. Researchers at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) uncovered this psychological operation targeting the Israeli public.
How It Works
FDD found that a Persian-language Telegram channel called CAR ONLINE (@caronline_original) with more than 400,000 subscribers orchestrates the operation. The account recommends a list of 50 Persian-language phrases to post on X in Hebrew. Examples include “my children just scream,” “I’m tired, God save us,” “I’m saying this as a Zionist, I’m screwed,” and “According to the prophecies, all the cities will be filled with corpses.” CAR ONLINE cautions its audience not to use the exact phrases, likely to avoid detection by X’s moderators.
The Telegram account shares instructions on how to create X accounts and how to use ChatGPT to translate posts into Hebrew. It suggests Hebrew and non-Hebrew names for accounts. It also promotes the success of X posts that it has coordinated.
CAR ONLINE also operates an account on X (@caronlineX) that frequently shares posts from other X accounts that pose as Israelis as well as content that appears inspired by the operation’s Telegram account. The CAR ONLINE Telegram account claims that 60,000 people have signed up as part of its effort, but FDD has not yet been able to determine if there is a factual basis for this claim.
Who’s Behind the Operation?
There are a number of reasons to believe Iranians are behind CAR ONLINE. On June 20, its Telegram account shared links to its account on EITAA, an Iranian Telegram knockoff. It also shared a website, caronlineofficial[.]com, that has an Iranian web hosting server. In addition to X, CAR ONLINE also appears to operate on other Western social media platforms, such as Instagram. Its Telegram channel and Instagram account also list an identical Iranian phone number.
This is not the first time Iranian actors have crowdsourced social media activity. FDD previously observed an Iranian influence operation using a similar tactic during the 2024 U.S. elections, where a central Telegram account called “Revolutionary Twitter – X” (@twtenghelabi) orchestrated posts across many X accounts.
Deep Network Investigations Critical for Combatting Malign Influence
It remains unclear whether the Iranian government or independent threat actors operate CAR ONLINE, but Western social media companies like X and Meta — as well as AI companies like OpenAI — should act fast to stop the abuse of their products as part of Iranian psychological operations.
Automated detection systems that look for suspicious behaviors — likely myriad accounts posting identical content in synchronization — will fall short of detecting networks like this that intentionally diversify their content and behaviors. Western social media and AI companies must conduct deep investigations to uncover the actors behind these networks, and the forums where they share their tactics.
Max Lesser is a senior analyst on emerging threats at the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at FDD, where Maria Riofrio is an intern. For more analysis from CCTI and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow FDD on X @FDD and @FDD_CCTI. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
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